Dubai bet big on Blockchain

Dubai will become the first ever world government to adopt blockchain technology. It is to be first used in the real estate sector where it will be processing transactions for contracts, lease registrations and the land registry.

Our adoption of this system is aligned with our commitment to responding to the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the smartest city in the world. - Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director-General of DLD

As exciting as this is, it is only the beginning. Launched in October 2016 by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, the Dubai Blockchain Strategy, a collaboration between the Smart Dubai Office and the Dubai Future Foundation, aims to have all government transactions processed through the blockchain by the year 2020.

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) real estate initiative, which has been developed with partners such as Smart Dubai, will launch at GITEX Technology Week 2017 under the slogan "Simple, Fast, Secure". This will allow tenants to make secure payments which will be processed instantly, rather than lengthy processes such as sending cheques and visiting real estate offices. The process will also validate residency visas and identity cards and will incorporate a tenant database.

This initiative is still in a stage of infancy. In the near future, we will see many partners joining [the] Blockchain to improve their client services, including banking, mortgages, and utilities and maintenance operations…Our aim is to unite all real estate and department services on a single platform. - Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director-General of DLD